The National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) is an assembly and survey of small business owners throughout the U.S. In the latest survey (full pdf here) overall optimism is the second highest ever recorded at 107.9 (the highest reading was 108 in 1983).

[…] Although some panned any celebration of the 4.1 percent second quarter GDP growth, small business owners beg to disagree. At least in the small business sector of the economy, Main Street’s performance over the last 21 months is unprecedented based on reports for the past 45 years by hundreds of thousands of NFIB’s member firms. Owners have never been so optimistic for so long. This has translated to improved employment and investment spending that buoys GDP growth, even at the end of what will be the longest expansion in modern history.

Consumer sentiment is at record high levels. Consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of our economy, posted 4 percent growth in Q2. Historically revised data show that consumers have been saving much more than thought, and income gains in recent months have been solid, providing support for spending in the second half. The record levels of firms reporting higher compensation is a clear indication that wages will be rising further in the second half.

COMPENSATION ANALYSIS: Reports of higher worker compensation gained a point from June to a net 32 percent of all firms, 3 points below May’s record reading of 35 percent. Plans to raise compensation rose 1 point to a net 22 percent, historically strong.

Government measures of wage and compensation gains follow movements in NFIB plans to raise compensation but with a 3 quarter lag, so government reports of rising compensation will increase even more in the second half of the year.

Owners complain at record rates about labor quality issues, with 88 percent of those hiring or trying to hire in June reporting few or no qualified applicants for their open positions. The frequency of reports of positive profit trends was unchanged at a net negative 1 percent, one of the very best readings in the survey’s 45 year history. (report)

♦ 35% of all businesses have raised wages; 22% more plan to raise wages. As CTH continues to note, the Bureau of Labor Statistics report on wage growth lags behind the actual NFIB survey results direct from the employers.

♦ 70% of all U.S. workers work in small businesses.

Again for emphasis: This is MAGAnomics in action. Main Street is benefiting. Blue and White collar Main Street is benefiting. The Middle-Class is the primary beneficiary.

For more than 30 years the Main Street economic engine has been intentionally stalled by U.S. economic policy that has favored Wall Street and pushed a service-driven-economy narrative on the U.S. workers. Using targeted MAGAnomic Main Street policy President Trump has reversed the trend.

Justah, and Americans, some adjusting to working every day, others noting fatter paychecks, are going to listen to their “news”, and know it is a crock…
One woman, posting her #WalkAwya video, actually went to a Trump rally, only to come home to watch coverage.
Coverage was a bald-faced lie.
She cut her cable, and swore she would never watch msm again.
Lyng and deceit are catching up with our presstitutes.

stats say 70% of the working population works for small business. Half sounds more like it, however, since I’ve heard 48% of working population are “civil servants”, which in my world are civil thieves…oh the stories I could tell!

A Word press blog features an attorney with a HUGE following who makes the case that Peter Strozk was fired for writing unfavorable things Trump didn’t like. Below her entry, on the Word Press Reader, are MANY stories of the firing and the Congressional interrogation of “Pete”, all very damning against Republicans, of course.

He truly is! Our President is no longer concerned about his financial situation. Everything he does is for the everyday American men and women. That is what drives him, his Killers, his Administration and his White House Staff, including his daughter and son-in-law.

The Atlanta Federal Reserve will be revising their 3rd Quarter real GDP rate tomorrow. Look where it currently sits:

So many forgotten Americans are coming back to the labor force and getting jobs. Their wages drag on overall but dignity of work and ability to believe again were lost for so many people including those with only High School diploma. pic.twitter.com/gMEy5nyOtj

I remember the highest, ~3 years after Reaganomics turned the economy around. New job in booming industry, new baby, new house. 35 years later, my daughter new job (hubby), new baby, not quite new house as these are different times. Trumpnomics took ~1.5 years. Next month it will be the highest.

Varney on FBN has been reporting all last week that the retail ice age is over. During the Bozo forced depression the malls near me had a vacancy rate of at least 20%. Today it is near 0%. Two malls near me are doing a total reface which has not happened since the post 911 miniboom.

My better half and I were kicking around the idea of small town “amazon-free zones” making use of local currency – buy from main street if possible, keep track at a community level what is not available locally, and use that data as rationale for expanding inventory or new startups – we would LOVE to take a bit out of amazon if it can boost small town main street

I’d go with Washington & Lincoln at the all-time top, but Trump is certainly challenging Reagan and FDR for modern day Presidents (1920 and on). Yes, i’m including FDR is in that group, for all he did to grow the bureaucratic state I think WWII might have turned out very differently had he not been POTUS.

It certainly would have turned out differently not just then but from that point forward to today had FDR allowed Patton to continue kicking butt past Berlin all the way to Moscow.
FDR was too cozy with Stalin.

Except for FDR and the commie moles and apologists already in our government, the USSR could have been defeated before they ever got nukes.

FDR also was instrumental in starting the ever-corrupt anti American institution known as the FBI, led by that wonderful Constitution loving (/sarc) J.Edgar Hoover. No, FDR was almost as bad as Obozo, maybe worse if one considers the long term ramifications of his policies.

Yeah, FDR was a disaster on the domestic front. However, as a wartime leader he had the good sense to let a very able group of generals and admirals run the war while making sure that our farms and factories kept our forces and our allies supplied. Unlike LB effing J who was picking out the next day’s bombing targets while sitting on his bedroom floor in his pajamas.

I don’t think Carter was stupid. Admiral Rickover wouldn’t have wanted him to stay in the Navy had he been dumb. I think Carter lacks and still lacks wisdom, and like many liberals considers opposition to his opinions and policies as being driven by evil. Feckless might be a better term for him.

No doubt about it, Carter and Obama were terrible, but for those of us old enough to remember, LBJ was the worst. He needlessly wasted thousands of lives in SE Asia with no intention of doing what was necessary to win and also wasted trillions on the Great Society which did huge damage to the social fabric of the country. He gets a pass from the MSM because he did civil rights, but we are still suffering from the results of his actions.

Most people today have no clue just how bad Wilson was; from his views on the Constitution to his (IMO) maneuvering us into WWI with the disastrous results that took place 21 years later. Oh yeah, he was a closet fascist and that’s a fact, Jack!

No doubt they will try. However the underlying economy is so damn strong that when people start dumping shares to tank the market, their will be plenty of buyers to get stocks at a discount. You won’t hear any experts say that the market is artificially LOW right now, but I believe it is. And VSGPDJT must be finding this absolutely delicious. when OUR President and his Killers start rolling out Very Stable Trade Deals between Labor Day and the election in November I believe the markets will jump 10-20%. This above all else will wash the Dems away in November. If we have the DOW, Nasdaq and S&P at record levels in October (which we will) combined with all of the other successes of the President its going to be an epic beatdown of Maxine Waters Party

Dont worry about this, the globalists have promoted this to keep us in fear but the truth is they are more at risk than we are with bigger investments in the fiat currency. This is part of the plan to bring them down and transfer the wealth back to an organic base. We are headed for an era of mutual prosperity with free markets, nothing can stop it now.

Obamanomics
1. Pass Obamacare requiring large employers to provide medical insurance for full time workers, resulting in fewer new hires because of extra employment cost burden and conversion of full time workers to part time.
2. Add new government regulations to make business expansion more difficult and kill investment in energy sector.
3. Trade deals that favor other nations.
4. New government regulation of banking industry that killed availability of capital to small business.
5. Massive stimulus packages that gave us Solyndra and Cash for Clunkers.
Result: Slow growth, high unemployment, increased poverty, slowest recovery from recession in history.

Maganomics.
1. Lower taxes
2. Incentives to have big corps repatriate profits.
3. Eliminate destructive regulations.
4. Re-work trade deals on favorable terms.
5. Unleash American business to do what it does best.

If you let NAFTA get renegotiated for more favorable terms, you will see that number explode and leave that number in the dust. NAFTA decimated manufacturing in this country, and a number of small and medium businesses that went out of business are likely to restart if NAFTA is dealt with. It might be a restart that is small and tentative at first, but enough to start putting a dent in the foreign goods that don’t compare to American made. If you think the economy is roaring now, wait til you see THAT.

NAFTA is dead. A bilateral deal with Mexico will be announced shortly. Canada signed a deal with China that makes an agreement almost impossible. The death of NAFTA and the deal with Mexico will happen at about the same time if sundance is correct. I came to a similar conclusion. That’s just how it looks right now.

“Owners complain at record rates about labor quality issues, with 88 percent of those hiring or trying to hire in June reporting few or no qualified applicants for their open positions“

How do we combat this? We have a manufacturing business and employ around 50 people. The good news is we are growing, but it is very hard to find someone who can pass a drug screen much less a competent person help willing to work a full week. We have about a 40% success rate maybe for new hires panning out

We have raised our pay rate between 5-10%. I am looking for industry dominated by China such as furniture manufacturers coming back but haven’t seen much evidence yet. China purchases a large portion of hardwood lumber produced in the US and the tariffs are definitely having a short term effect. Will it be long term? Not sure. There are some domestic customers picking up the pace for products other than the ones used in furniture but we need all sectors to flourish domestically!

Needless to say besides these minor (or not so minor quits) I couldn’t be happier with the job President Trump has done. Especially under the circumstances.

Not at all. I don’t think I said anything like that, if anything I wrote inferred that I apologize. At least that hasn’t been our experience. Most of the best people we work with are over 50. Actually, hiring younger people who haven’t really worked before is pretty tough.

We have been blessed to work with some great people but finding new hires is not easy.

I expect this might become more the norm if parents are able to realize a single breadwinner family, whether two work part time or one full time. Sure will be nice to rid these people of the cost of childcare.

Back in the dark ages when I was looking for my first grown-up job out of college, all employers knew what entry level jobs were….they were jobs where you hired an enthusiastic, intelligent hard worker who may not have all the skills but is very capable of learning. Almost all employers had a paid training/apprenticeship program of some sort for a short period, then at the end of that period they decided whether you’d make a good employee or not.

Where did that go ? Since when did employers decide the taxpayer should educate people into the workforce with advanced skills right out of hs or college, or they’d bring in an H1B ? Since when did employers decide kids right out of school, or people looking for a new career, should work at unpaid internships in hopes that there might be a paying job ? This is what all the 20 somethings complain about today. They are expected to work for free, with zero promise of a job if they perform.

I highly suggest companies bring back those paying apprenticeship programs – create the person you want to hire. It doesn’t take that long, and you are likely to create a loyal employee with just the skills you need.

You took the words out of my mouth. All my friends had first-time jobs with significant components of training–even though most of us had worked during summer and other college breaks. BTW, this was true for us even though we went to so-called “elite” universities. Doesn’t matter Ivy league or whatever, all young folks need training and mentoring to become useful employees.

“Owners complain at record rates about labor quality issues, with 88 percent of those hiring or trying to hire in June reporting few or no qualified applicants for their open positions.”

And yet the number of Americans with advanced degrees is at an all-time high. I guess “non-binary gender studies” and “the science of micro-aggressions” doesn’t translate well into a useful workforce… who knew? LOL 😛

“Illegal and legal immigrant-headed households use nearly 60 percent more taxpayer-funded food stamps than households headed by native born Americans, a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) revealed in 2016.

Harvard University economist George Borjas says the country’s decades of importation of more than 1.5 million legal immigrants every year is the world’s “largest anti-poverty program” that comes at the expense of American citizens who are forced to subsidize the cost.”

Stupid Short Sighted Americans….”all for cheap lawn and maid service and…… taco trucks.
Allow them to rip off your Taxes, your Children’s Jobs and your Nation…while all the PC Cowards will proudly claim, “at least I was never called a racist.”

I did a little research yesterday. West Virginia that was running 14% unemployment in 2016 the reign of Obama was at 8.9% a couple months ago. Not too bad an improvement considering they have had a coal driven economy. Hopefully they can improve on that in the coming months. With an improvement other businesses may start up and hire.

A year from now the liberal main stream media will be decrying President Trump because GDP ONLY increased by 4.8% instead of the 5% promised. The media will also add that good economic numbers will not insulate the President from the accusations of Stormy Daniels and Omarose Onee Manigault-Newman and the citizens will rise up and demand impeachment any day now.

My concern is the tax burden placed on small businesses. My son-in-law has his own landscaping firm. He pays 40% of his earnings in taxes. I couldn’t afford to do that. Hopefully Phase II of POTUS’ tax relief plan will address the plight of small business tax burden.

Vicki’s son-in-law may be including state and local taxes in his total tax burden, which in CA, NY, and a number of other states can be quite significant, especially since the Tax Reform bill was passed.

I also own a small business. He has to pay Federal Income Tax and FICA Tax. But make sure he speaks with his Accountant about what the base for his FICA should be. It is NOT the total amount of business income. He can pay himself a reasonable salary and pay Income Tax and FICA on that. The rest is treated as Return on Investment or Profit. He has to pay Income Tax on that but not FICA. He can also set up a SEP, a Keough or other Retirement Account and put pre-tax money in that. Again, talk to an Accountant. I am NOT giving tax advice.